Countdown to Bliss

Michael Ferreter, 32, a production manager for ABC News, is marrying Tina Balazs, 29, an associate project manager for the Publicist Medical Education Group, who is no relation to the boutique hotelier (and Uma Thurman’s boyfriend) Andre—we think. The ceremony and reception will take place at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at Notre Dame, where Mr. Ferreter attended business school.

The groom-to-be proposed outside Gracie Mansion after a postprandial stroll through Carl Schurz Park, handing Ms. Balazs a lyric sheet for “Question,” a song by the Old 97’s. As she read the words—“He took her to the park / She crossed her arms and lowered her eyelids / Someday somebody’s gonna ask you a question that you should say yes to / Once in your life, maybe tonight”—he slipped to one knee and presented her with a one-carat, brilliant-cut, white-gold-set solitaire diamond. “Absolutely!” she said.

The couple was introduced by a former roommate of Mr. Ferreter’s who worked with Ms. Balazs, before a double feature of It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas at the Music Box in Chicago. After Ms. Balazs arrived at the apartment nearby, the roommate promptly vamoosed. “Have fun!” he said.

The two sat in shy silence throughout the movies. “I didn’t know a soul when I moved to Chicago,” said the blond, sturdy Ms. Balazs, a native of Bowling Green, Ohio. “It took me a while to go out in general, so I probably didn’t talk to Mike that much.”

Nonetheless, it wasn’t long before they were rooting for the Cubs at Wrigley Field (Mr. Ferreter’s buddies knew it was serious when he left the game to get her hot chocolate) and strolling around the street festivals, which Mr. Ferreter said “are nothing like street festivals in New York. Here, you have a couple of guys selling tube socks, and that’s pretty much it. In Chicago, they have food and beer and music, and you pay $3 to see it.” Yeah, while freezing your butt off!

They moved to New York after he graduated from B-school, finding a two-bedroom place on the Upper West Side. “There are still some things we’re adjusting to,” Ms. Balazs said. “The people, the crowds, the noise, the fact that laundry is difficult,” Mr. Ferreter elaborated. “I had no hot water this morning—stuff like that happens in New York.”

They also have a new baseball allegiance. “We’ve sort of adopted the Mets,” said Ms. Balazs. “We can’t cheer for the Yankees. We’re from the Midwest, and we just can’t do it.”